Noteshelf 3 review: price, free version and privacy

Our verdict

Noteshelf 3 suits students who plan, journal and annotate on the same iPad and want templates ready to use. The 3-notebook cap means most people will need Premium, so the lifetime item is worth checking first.

What Noteshelf 3 is

Noteshelf 3 is a handwriting and PDF app with a strong planning side. The description lists more than 200 templates for planners, journals, diaries and trackers, plus lined, dotted or grid paper in any color. You can write, type and draw on the same page, record audio, annotate PDFs, Word and PowerPoint files, and use Noteshelf AI to summarize, explain or translate.

Who it suits

• Planners and templates
• Students who annotate PDFs and slides
• Digital journaling on iPad

Strengths

• More than 200 templates for planners, journals and trackers, according to the description.
• Imports PDFs, Word and PowerPoint files, with audio recording alongside your notes.
• Handwriting recognition and search in 65 languages with Premium.
• A lifetime Premium option, and sync across iPad, iPhone and Mac with iCloud.

Limits

• The free version is capped at 3 notebooks.
• The privacy label declares usage data as used to track you.
• It requires iOS 18 or later.
• The price list has ten items, including a weekly plan, which makes the real price hard to compare.

What the free version does

The description says you can create up to 3 notebooks with core pens and paper for free. Premium adds unlimited notebooks, all templates, handwriting recognition, auto-backup and 100 AI credits a month.

Price

On the US App Store in November 2026, Premium is listed at $7.99 weekly, $9.99 monthly, $19.99 to $49.99 yearly and $14.99 for a lifetime item. A "Premium for Noteshelf 2 users" item is listed at $9.99.

Privacy

The privacy label says usage data may be used to track you and is linked to your identity. Location, contact info, identifiers and diagnostics are collected without being linked.

What the screenshots show

The screenshots show a rich-text to-do page with sticky notes and a color palette, and a PDF on liquid biopsy with highlights, a handwritten margin note and a "Noteshelf AI" option in the text menu.